Drying machine



R. C. PARKES 'March 21, 195o DRYING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1o, 1948` 5f A T TOR/v: Y.

Patented Mar. 21, :1950

UNITED STATE -navrNG MACHINE p Ralph C.l Parkes, Glensiae, Pa. Y applicati@ February 10, 194s,- serial Nq.; 7,39;

Y This invention relates tiles and other materials by causing the material to be dried to move through, or by placing the material in, a drying chamber to which heat is supplied.

One object of the 'invention is to produce an improved drying machine -for drying materials of the type set forth. f

For-efficient drying it is desirable to' subject the very moist material to relatively high tempera-y tures' so as to drive out the moisture content of the material relatively rapidly, and to subject the to the art of drying texclams. (c1..s4 -55) partly dried material to reduced temperatures,

in the same or in another drying chamber, so as'to evaporate the residual moisture.

In a machine of this type,v if the material continues to be exposed to the relatively high tempera-tures, after the material has passed through theconstant drying rate stage and has entered upon the falling drying rate stage, there is danger of the fabric being ignited or otherwise damaged. If the fabric is ignited or scorched, or if` the fabric or other material has been heated to, or beyond,.its critical point, again shutting oit the heat will not help because the fabric or other material has already been damaged `or the heat stored in the drying chamber will bev enough to cause or to aggravate the damagee 'Ihese are among the major dimlculties encountered in making use of rapid, high, temperature drying when the material to be dried; is combustible or when the material is such as to be damaged if its temperature is raised to relatively high value.,

It is therefore a further object of theinvention to produce an improved drying machinehin which materials having a highmoisture content may be dried, to a liimtedextent, under relatively hi-gfh temperatures; and to providemeans for expelling the material from the drying chamber Whenthe material is in danger of Vbeing ignited, over-dried, etc. whereby damage may bepre-` vented orlimited.V v if p ,p Vf

Merely expelling the material from the heated chamber is not enough. For example,"becau`se heat rises, the material, if expelled through theV upper part of the machine will `continue to be subjected to the heat and flame. Also, t open the top of the compartment is to allow the heat, flame and smoke etc. to belch out and spread or cause other damage. The same istrue to `a lesser` r ture of along piece of cloth, the bolt from whichl material is fed linto the drying compartment should not be located'near where the 'amefand smoke'wouldfescapel in the event of an emergency. vIn order to overcome these difculties, I have devised an improvedarrangement whereby the cloth is fedupwardly into the drying compartment and is removed from the compartmentby being.rapidly'droppedtoa point below the compartment. In this 'way the top of the compartment remains closed so as to confine the flame, heat or smoke, and the dropped material will immediately find itself in a relatively cool place.

A still `further object is: top-roduce an improved drying machine which may be used as a pre-drier, in tandem with Yanother drying machine employing more moderate temperatures, orone whichV can be used as an independent unit for Veffecting c'ompletedrying :ofthe material to be dried.

A still further object of the invention is to produce'an `improved dryingma-chinein which the ratepcr extent, of the drying of the material, or both, may be regulated without changingthe rate o-fmov'ement'o'f the 'material and without chnigin'gI the heat input. f

v'A still`further'-object yis to produce an improved dryingmachine of the type described, I

which `will be' practical, durable, simple, compact and'ir'exp'ensive to produce or operate.

`These, and other, objects are attained by the invention asset forth in th'efollowing specification'and vas shown in the accompanyingdrawings i which:

"Figfl is a diagrammatic-view, partly'in secti'n andpartly'inside elevation of a drying machine vembodying" myinvention.

-Fig'VZis fragmentary view of the lower right hand portion of Fig. 1' showing the manner in whichfthefmaterial vbeingsdriedis expelled from the drying chamber. i

"Fig 3isy a fragmentary view'looking in the rection-of line V3--3 on Fig. 1. f

y`In 1i'ig.1 there isA diagrammatically shown a drying machine built'of suitable insulated walls and' supporting 'frame 4work which define a drying'-chamber I0 Ehaving the desired height and width.- Asfshowmthe' drying chamber is adapted to; house two or moreheating units I2 and I4, disposed side by side, but itis within the scope ofthe `invention to use aflesser or greater number of lunits which may or maynot be partitioned otffrom each other. The units I2 and I4 emit highly heated ,airr or other fluid drying medium whichl` they receive from heating coils and blowers, not shown', or they may emit heat inthe form of radiantenergy or' in the form of a flame.

`The material to be dried, such as sheet material IE maybe "passed independently, through either one `of 'the units,v or, as shown in Fig. 1, through both off the units in series.

The sheet material, I6 is fed from a freely turningff'eed-rollr I8 overa-freely 'rotating guide roll 3 20, over a driven or a freely rotating roll 22 and over another freely rotating guide roll 24, so as to move once past the nozzles 25 and once past the nozzles. 26of ,the heat kemitting ,unit I2. After passing over the guide roll 24 the sheetmaterial may be wound directly on a take-up roll'28 or fil it may be passed between the nozzles 29 and 30..

of the heat emitting unit I4 as shown in Fig. 1, depending on conditions.

ther drying or for other treatment.

n The rolls 22 which carry the material -to be dried are carried by endless sprocket chains 32 whiclr travel over upper.` and,I lowery sprocket wheelsdf and36f disposedrabove and below the dryin-g'chamber, respectively,- as shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, if 'ther sprocket wheels are turnedV in clockwise direction, as viewed; in Fig. 1, the rollsA 22'3 and-i tl'ie-VA cloth carried'th'ereby, willtmove toward'the bottom of the dryingv chamber; and vice-versa.

Forthe purpose of 'moving fthe sprocket chains I provide a motor M 'whichdrives the shaft 38 of-f'oneiof the sprocketz wheels .34; by a1 chain or belt drive =40, engaging a= sprocketY wheelor a` pulley (not shown) on the= shaft 38. The :rota-v tionoffthe shaft-138isftransmitted-to the shaftY ltz'l'of the `other vsprocket-.wheel 34, bymeans'of aA Ichain or belt drive 1 4.4".which* engages :sprocket wheels or pulley (not shown) on the shafts'38g and 42T The motor `Mis of the reversing-type and is therefor capable of rotating-the sprocket wheelsP` Sil-Tin either direction.

The motor M'is providedwith afsuitable, mannally operable switch 4B .by-means offwhchV the".y

motor may b'efcaused to actuaterthe-v drive 144 in either direction, to raiseor lower the Vpole or rolls 22Fto any desiredpoint from-the-fhighestpoint; as shown at the=lefttof"Fig; 1, to a: point-'below thebottom wall 48f`foffthedryin'gf chamber, as shown in Fig. 2; With reference tothe position of `i,lfiev rollY 22 as` shown f atsf the right" of Fig.- 1, it is pointed out that, because the shafts 3,8and42j are driven bythe fsamedriveM; the two rolls 22 will always be at the same level. In 'other wordsi the position of theV pole at'the right off'Fig. 1Y is'v merely to show an intermediatepositiontowhich both rolls 22 can bemoved'.

The structure thus farrdescribedoperatesfas follows.

lThe motor isenergizedfin a mannerto bring the rolls 22 down to aposition in which ther-maf terial I6' can be'looped on oneY or both of the rolls 22'. The 'motoris'r then reversed so as to raise-the rolls 22 tothe desired height, depending` on the requirement ofi-each particular case; For

example;A if the materialis heavy and'has a4 high moisture content and; if the heat input is disre garded,v the poles should'be raised to the highest` point' so as to prolong the travel of the material' past the nozzles 25, 26, 29'andf30; Conversely,"

if the material isllight-and, ifits moisture con tent is low., and again disregarding the'heatinput, the rolls 22 should be raisedto a relatively lowerposition, to about thel position shown at the right in Fig. 1; If the heat inputis taken into consideration, the positionof the rolls 22 will be correspondingly aifected. For example,l

the more intense the-heat, disregarding the moisture content, the lower the position of the'rolls 22 should be and,- viceversa.

Also, by moderatingv the -fheat emanating. from Also, instead of fb'eingf. wound on the take-up roll 28,` the sheetmaterial I6 may be introduced into still another drying` chamber, or other machine, lnotshowm. for: fur-* the nozzles 29 and 30, the apparatus shown can be used for complete drying. Thus, the initial drying can be carried out at a high temperature whilelthematerial passes vbetween nozzles 25 and 26 vand the Ydrying can bev completed-at a moderate temperature while the material is passing between the nozzles 29 and 30. If desired either,

' or both of the units shown can be used in tandemrwith another drying machine so that the materiaLwilLbe subjected to intense heat and rapiddry-ing in the apparatus shown and the drying :can be: completed, or the material can be otherwise treated in another chamber not shown.

Inthe event that the material is overdried, or is in danger of burning, etc. the operator can, by energizingrthermotor, cause the rolls 22 todrop down;tothe vicinity of the lower sprockets 36 which are outside-thechamber I0 as showny in Fig. 2.I Simultaneously, the take-up roll 29' is stopped so as to arrest movement of the material IGf-from theA feedf roll I8.y

In order toprovide-for automatically dropping the rolls 22 and the fabric carried thereby out ofthe chamberIl-I'provide a bimetal or a wafer `thermostat, or` aftherrnocouple,l or other protective heat-responsive device 48, which is electrically connectedf-to'the-motor M by wires 50. The protective device' issoarranged that, when the .temperature'inthe chamber Ireaches a predetermined high value, the protective device 48 causesthemotor to turn in a; direction to lower the rolls 22 out of the chamber I0; The motor M is of'fa-high speed type and/or the gear train is such thatthef rolls 22l are dropped out of the` '-1 chamber Ill,` rapidly.

Y chamber aslOngaS thetension of the ymaterial does not exceed, a predetermined value, and to.

stop wl'iemthe tensionreaches a predetermined value.r

Thereforegwhen,ro l1s,2.2.are dropped out of the drying-,chamber,r the take-up roll, 28 will turn long.; enough to. pullthe fabric out of the chamber4 andtotake up, the:` slack but will stop be.- cause-.theftension off the-v material, -due to the lock-ing, of the .feed ,roll I 8,-by1the magnetic brake, willbe-.inexcess ofthe -torque ofthe take-up roll.

. Thefeed roll Iisnormally freely rotating but it is provided with a magnetic -;brake whichk is energized-to loclr.` the feed roll when the motor M isienergizedf in a directionlto drop the rolls` 22V out: of the chamber` I0:

The doors 52,;v areA providedwithv counter weghtsslwhich maintain theV doors in any positionto-wfhiclfrtlfiey` are moved, suchv for example,.as-the lposition of-Eig. 1. When .therolls 22 drop, theyyactuate .alevergnot shown, which will. shut the-doors,to protect the-fabric there below.

fromv the heat of thechamber,` to conne. the raif. any, within theV chamber.

A' conventional relaymechanism, themovement of the rolls 22, to thepositionof Figi. 2, orthe closing of the doors in the bottom of the chamber may beutilizedlto deenergize the Vmotor Mi and keep it deenergized until the machine is=y again; loaded, or.l until whatever relay or tripping mechanism used shall have been reset.

What I claim is:

1. A drying machine including a drying chamber, supporting means in said chamber for supporting the material to be dried, there being an opening in the bottom of said chamber, means for feeding said material upwardly through said opening into said chamber and onto said support, means for supplying heat to said chamber, and means responsive to a predetermined condition within said chamber for rapidly expelling said support and all of said material from said chamber through said opening.

2. A drying machine including a drying chamber, a support movable to a selected, Xed position above the iioor of said chamber, there being an opening in the bottom of said chamber, means for feeding a material to be dried upwardly through said opening and passing it over said support, means for supplying heat to said chamber, and means in said chamber responsive to predetermined heat conditions within said chamber for rapidly expelling said support and all of said material from said chamber through said opening.

3. A drying machine including a drying chamber, a first sprocket wheel near the upper portion of said chamber, a second sprocket wheel near the lower portion of said chamber, an endless sprocket chain travelling over said sprocket wheels, a support carried by said chain and adapted lto support the material to be dried, said chamber having an opening in the bottom thereof, means for moving said chain in a direction to raise said support to a selected, xed position above the bottom opening of said chamber, and high speed means for dropping said chain, said support, and all of said material through the opening in the bottom of said chamber to a point below the bottom of said chamber.

4. The structure recited in claim 3 together with heat responsive means in said chamber connected to and adapted to actuate the last mentioned means when the temperature in said chamber reaches a predetermined value.

5. The structure recited in claim 1 together with a closure adapted toobstruct said opening and means .for maintaining said closure in nonobstructing position relative to said opening, during movement of said material into and out of said chamber.

RALPH C. PARKES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED S'IA'IESy PATENTS Number Name Date 124,248 Brown Mar. 5, 1872 1,773,709 Daniels Aug. 19, 1930 1,984,063 Graham Dec. 11, 1934 2,038,395 Wardle Apr. 21, 1936 2,423,030 Johnson June 24, 1947 

